


Another Way Out

by percivals



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Alternate Ending, Character Death, Gen, animus qibli, death by venom, graphic depiction of venom, tui didnt kill darkstalker so i will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 10:35:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15435159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/percivals/pseuds/percivals
Summary: "So what do you think?" Darkstalker asked. "Are you ready to become an animus dragon?"Qibli's eyes scanned the cave, thinking, his brain going a mile a minute. He had to find someway out of this... There had to be something. Darkstalker was big and all powerful, all knowing, but there had to be some way to get an advantage over him. Qibli couldn't say yes under the grounds that he'd be pals with this absolutely 100% totally evil dragon forever and ever (which Qibli did not want), but he couldn't say no under the grounds that he would almost certainly be eviscerated on the spot, if not later in life if Darkstalker kept trying to pretend to Moon that he wouldn't hurt her friends. He had to find something else, something to say or do that Darkstalker wouldn't expect... His eyes flitted past Darkstalker's head and he saw a flash of red.





	Another Way Out

**Author's Note:**

> wellllll i recently reread darkness of dragons and enjoyed it vastly (though i do have issues with it...) but i found myself wanting something else from the ending, something more.. satisfying, but probably only satisfying to me, heh. NOTE that i do not hate darkstalker, this isnt some salty fic where i grovel about how much i wish he'd died, this is just an alternate ending that i thought was an interesting idea.. in fact my original concept for it was qibli getting magic and helping darkstalker be a good guy, buuut i decided thatd never happen in canon. in fact, i was just wondering while reading why DIDNT qibli take the magic and do something like this??? he put himself in his own box of no magic solutions.. instead of being able to cast a spell on darkstalker to make him like paralyzed forever or to make him unable to cast anymore spells he was just like Lets Hug About It! i mean his only limits were to "not harm" darkstalker!! theres so much room for that!!!!!! ugh. anyways heres this

"So what do you think?" Darkstalker asked. "Are you ready to become an animus dragon?"

Qibli's eyes scanned the cave, thinking, his brain going a mile a minute. He had to find someway out of this... There had to be something. Darkstalker was big and all powerful, all knowing, but there had to be some way to get an advantage over him. Qibli couldn't say yes under the grounds that he'd be pals with this absolutely 100% totally evil dragon forever and ever (which Qibli did not want), but he couldn't say no under the grounds that he would almost certainly be eviscerated on the spot, if not later in life if Darkstalker kept trying to pretend to Moon that he wouldn't hurt her friends. He had to find something else, something to say or do that Darkstalker wouldn't expect... His eyes flitted past Darkstalker's head and he saw a flash of red.

It was a simple button of red, flashing rhythmically, almost impossible to see if not looking for it, and confused Qibli only momentarily. His heart felt lighter, brightened a bit by what he'd discovered. _Kinkajou!_ , he thought, his brain kicking up all new possibilities in his head like a dragon lifting up to fly in the desert. Anything Qibli was about to do, Darkstalker would know. But Kinkajou... Kinkajou was unexpected. Kinkajou was Qibli's ticket to surprise. If Qibli could work Kinkajou into his plan, Darkstalker wouldn't be able to see it- he wouldn't think to look further enough into that possibility to see how it played through. This was what he needed. This was Qibli's way out. _Oh, thank you, Kinkajou!_

Now he just had to get Kinkajou to know what he wanted her to do... He continued looking around, making sure his eyes didn't linger to alert Darkstalker of the presence of the small Rainwing, and thought of how to communicate to her. He saw out of the corner of the eye the button of red turn to gold- perhaps an indicator that Kinkajou knew Qibli had seen her, an indicator that she was listening. He could only hope that Kinkajou would understand, that she'd be up for his plan... Kinkajou seemed so small and innocent, but he knew how much she hated this dragon, how she craved justice for all he had done. In his heart, he knew she would do anything to destroy this dragon.

Qibli tapped his chin. Well, just above it, as if indicating his canine teeth, but just low enough that it looked more like the former than the latter. It was a normal gesture, a gesture that wouldn't alarm Darkstalker and just looked like he was thinking hard, but he hoped Kinkajou would understand what he was referring to. "Animus magic... You won't... restrain any of my own magic or spells, will you?" He asks Darkstalker, doing his best to sound casual and innocent and slightly interested. If Darkstalker was thinking things were going his way, if Darkstalker got confident, there was more room for error on his part, and more room for Qibli to get more power over the dragon. 

"Of course not. You're free to do any magic you wish, as long as it doesn't get in the way of any of my goals, of course," Darkstalker nods, happy to explain anything to Qibli and hopefully make the future he wanted even more glamorous to the dragonet. Qibli nods.

"I'd be able to do anything..." Qibli mutters, trying to sound as if he was musing this over to himself. "I could make myself and my friends unkillable... I could make myself immune to fire, frost breath, mind reading, venom, all of that...! So I could do good and help others forever..." He claws at the stone floor a bit, trying to sound nonchalant. He hoped that the mention of venom would be interpreted by Darkstalker as about _SandWing_ venom and not _RainWing_ , but added just enough emphasis to it that Kinkajou would probably understand.

"Yes! Now you're thinking. I've done all of those myself, as you know," Darkstalker tapped his own chin. "But, y'know, I never thought of blocking mindreaders. I guess it was important to us NightWings, and I'm already preeeetty good at blocking dragons out. I could teach you! I can see it already..." Darkstalker sighs. Qibli was elated. With Darkstalker lost in his own idyllic future, he probably wouldn't see any of this coming. And all that Darkstalker asked was that he couldn't do any spells that would harm him! Perhaps Darkstalker didn't think he'd be smart enough to simply lead enough dragon to him and get half way there, but this was honestly foolish of him. Qibli hummed a bit, as if considering, and looked up at Darkstalker with a hesitant, reluctant look in his eyes, which to be quite honest wasn't really faked.

"I accept," he says solemnly, dramatically, and he could tell from the look in Darkstalker's face that he'd done well enough to boost Darkstalker's confidence through the roof. Darkstalker really thought Qibli was just bending back for him so easily.. It was sort of insulting, but Qibli had other things to think about right now.

"Perfect!" Darkstalker dips his head down towards Qibli and hums for a bit before touching the top of Qibli's head with a talon. "I enchant this dragon to become an animus dragon, who can never do any harm to me, Darkstalker." Darkstalker nods slowly, proud of himself for, in his eyes, removing one of the only threats in his life. "Now, you h-" Qibli cut him off with a swift headbutt, hitting Darkstalker harshly under his jaw. It wasn't supposed to hurt Darkstalker- in fact, it probably hurt Qibli more to clang against those diamond hard scales- but it did well enough to surprise Darkstalker and make him recoil.

"I enchant Darkstalker to no longer be affected by any of his own spells, present, past, and future!" Qibli yelled as Darkstalker's eyes widened, confused and surprised, and above Darkstalker, a cloud of red materialized, then becoming Kinkajou, an eye burning combination of red and green and purple and black, descending upon the enormous dragon and spitting venom all across his face. Qibli backed up, flaring his wings as Darkstalker's scales began to dissolve. At first, Qibli couldn't see the venom working its way through the black scales, but he certainly heard Darkstalker scream. Kinkajou fell atop Darkstalker's head, scrambling to stand on the parts that weren't currently being eaten away, and she leaned down to hold his mouth shut, to muffle his cries and to keep him from casting any more spells, even if he could manage through the pain and though he couldn't save himself with Qibli's new spell. Kinkajou's acid had hit around the bridge of Darkstalker's nose, getting into his eyes and around his snout. The pure black venom over Darkstalker's own pure black scales made it hard to see, but after a mere few seconds of sizzling, purple was quickly starting to show through. _Of course. IceWing blood and NightWing blood... That would explain the color._ To be quite honest, Qibli was trying very hard to think about things other than the dragon being melted in front of him. His heart was fluttering in his chest like a hummingbird, and Darkstalker's screams were filling the cave as he scrambled to try and feebly scratch at the large wounds growing on his face. His eyeballs were gone, Qibli realized with a jolt, melted away, and he struggled to pull his own eyes away from the sight. Now almost all of Darkstalker's face was a sickly purple color, and the acid had yet to stop. Darkstalker was stumbling now, thrashing around to try and get the little RainWing off of him, but she held on, determined to stay until Darkstalker's final breath. It shocked Qibli to see how long he was standing- pale white was starting to show through the purple, the pale white of bone. _He's melting alive._ Qibli struggled to breath. Moon was screaming, too. Oh, he hoped she would forgive him for this. It was necessary. What else was he supposed to do? Kinkajou was now leaning down to shoot more venom across Darkstalker's face, deeper, probably trying to get his over with sooner.

It seemed like ages before Darkstalker finally fell, the acid going all the way through his skull and turning that big brain of his into nothing but black mush. Kinkajou was mostly white and green and black at this point, and Qibli could see her struggling to breath herself. Everyone stood there in silence for a bit, gathering themselves. Darkstalker was dead. Kinkajou had killed him.

Jade Mountain would never fall, and darkness would never rise again. The war was over.


End file.
